Sep 23, 2012 10:42 PM

A friend found these bones in the mountains. Kinda freaked her out since her son went missing in these mountains many years ago. I am pretty sure they are not human, but I could sure use some help in identifying them to put her at ease.

The ribs are about 8 inches long and the bones that are sticking out from the ribcage are 2 inches long. What type of animal would have these bones protruding from the ribcage?

Thanks, Episcophagus. We don't have sheep out my way, but could they be coyote bones? We have a lot of those. I never would have thought that there would be an extension of the bones out from the ribcage like that.

Hi Brian. I am NOT an expert and maybe you need to ask a vet or a forensic person to take a look. However, from the pictures it looks as if the ribcage is narrow but deep - that is, if you look striaight down through the rib cavity, it is an oval shape with the spine being the top, pointy bit of the oval and the gap between the ribs at the bottom (if you draw an imaginary line taking in the curve of the ribs) of the oval (in other words longer from spine to chest wall, shorter from side to side). This looks more like the form of an animal (dog? sheep? goat? Coyote?) than a human. With human ribs the oval is the other way round (shorter from spine to chest wall, wider from side to side) because of the upright walking position humans have adopted as opposed to four legs. I'd take bets this is not human, but to be absolutely sure, check it out with a local expert.